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Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

If you would like to learn more about the responsible conduct of research or have been asked to complete the training as a requirement of receiving support from NIH or NSF, please go to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) website, register and select the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as the institution to affiliate with. The training is free and we encourage faculty to use the CITI modules in their courses or mentoring activities with all students and post docs, regardless of NSF/NIH support.

What will I learn?

Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research

Research Misconduct

Data Acquisition and Management

Responsible Authorship

Peer Review

Mentoring

Conflicts of Interest

Collaborative Research

Conducting Research With Laboratory Animals

Responsible Conduct of Research with Human Subjects

Why am I required to take this training?

If you are a Post-doc, an undergraduate or graduate student, an NSF grant or a trainee, fellow, participant or scholar supported by an NSF or NIH award (individual or institutional), research education grant, or dissertation research grant, you are required to receive training in Responsible Conduct of Research, in order to continue to receive your federal support. The intention is for all future scientists to have a better understanding of the expectations of responsible conduct of research.

How do I register for RCR training?

New Users

If you are a new user of this training site, click "Register" and follow the directions.
Use your ULID or CLID as your username (or create your own) and create a password.
Enter your profile information.
Question 2 asks, "Would you like to take the Conflicts of Interest Course?" Answer “Yes".
Questions for other courses may require you to answer yes or no before clicking "Submit" at the bottom of the page.
Click “Submit”.
The course listing will open. Select the course you would like to begin.

Registered Users

Login.
At the bottom of the page in "My Learner Tools for University of Louisiana at Lafayette", click "Add a Course".
Question 2 asks, "Would you like to take the Conflicts of Interest Course?" Answer “Yes".
Questions for other courses may require you to answer yes or no before clicking "Submit" at the bottom of the page.
Click “Submit”.
The course listing will open. Select the course you would like to begin.

You may complete the course in multiple sessions, if necessary.

How long will the training take?

This training contains reading material and quizzes. Depending on how fast you read, you can plan about 30-35 minutes per topic. With 10 topics, the total training time may be around 5 hours. You may complete the course in multiple sessions, because the program will "remember" your progress. You will simply log out after completing a quiz and return to the course at another time. A minimum aggregate score of 80% is required to pass the RCR course. Upon completion of all the required modules, a certificate will be generated. Please make a PDF of your certificate for your records.

Who should I contact if I have questions?

What is the institutional training and verification process?

We (Sponsored Programs Finance Administration and Compliance) will monitor the awarding of NSF projects and NIH training, career development awards (individual or institutional), research education grants, and dissertation research grants, and will send the Principal Investigator (PI) of the award information about the RCR requirements, as they pertain to their project, and instructions for providing evidence of training completion for trainees supported by their award. As the PI, you will be asked to:

email SPFAC a list of names of students, trainees or post-docs to receive funding from NIH or NSF awards. Please include your name, the NSF/NIH award number, title, account number, and student or postdoctoral researcher name(s).

Direct students and postdoctoral researchers to take the discipline specific CITI RCR Training, within 90 days of their beginning work on the project, or before the completion of the project, which ever is sooner.

Direct those taking the CITI RCR training to make a PDF of the training certificate as proof of training.

As the PI, you must email SPFAC the training completion certificate(s) for each person.